KEY POINTS:
Waitakere City Council is looking into combining internet voting with postal voting in an attempt to reach young people after a disappointing turnout in last October's council elections.
In a report to the council on the three-yearly poll, Waitakere electoral officer Daryl Griffin said only 37.6 per cent of the 126,288 voting papers sent out were returned with votes cast for mayor, council and community boards.
Research showed those more likely to vote were in the older age group, or living in an area with a clear geographic identity, or who were engaged with their communities.
Waitakere and the other Auckland councils brought in postal voting in the 1990s. But though the method resulted in nearly double the participation rate, its gains are being eroded.
Mr Griffin said a survey of 400 residents showed three-quarters of potential voters between 18 and 29 supported website voting, though only a third of that age group supported postal voting.
Voting rates were also much lower for the age groups 20 to 29 (27 per cent) and 18-19 (28 per cent) compared with 86 per cent for over-60s.
Mr Griffin said it seemed website voting would become more popular and postal voting less popular. But its introduction would require amending the Local Electoral Regulations.
"It might be appropriate for the council to lead the way in advocating changes. A combination of website voting and postal voting might encourage more voters to participate."
The survey showed the most popular options were postal voting (52 per cent), website voting (45 per cent), polling booth ( 25 per cent), phone voting (14 per cent) and voting at libraries (11 per cent).
Mr Griffin said postal voting lowered the time and effort required for voting and a further measure might be to combine postal with internet voting.
This might reach some young people who were less likely to vote. Research suggested voting was a habit.
Targeting schools, particularly in combination with internet voting, might be effective in reaching students and their parents.
Other councils, too, are concerned at their 2007 voter turnouts. Auckland City's was 39.7 per cent of voters, Manukau's 38.2 per cent and North Shore's 35.4 per cent.
THE FIGURES
* Voter turnouts in Waitakere council elections:
* 2007: 37.6 per cent.
* 2004: 35.89 per cent.
* Net cost: $270,284 or $1.91 per vote cast
